"My whole ambition in life is to set in motion machinery which will bring noble ideas to the door of everybody, and then let men and women settle their own fate.Let them know what our forefathers as well as other nations have thought on the most momentous questions of life. We are to put the chemicals together; the crystallization will be done by nature according to her laws. Keep the motto before you "ELEVATION OF THE MASSES WITHOUT INJURING THEIR RELIGION”
- SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

"Two diffferent races mix and fuse, and out of them rises one strong distinct type. A strong and distinct type is always the physical basis of the horizon. It is all very well to talk of universalism, but the world will not be ready for that for millions of years!

"Remember! if you want to know what a ship is like, the ship has to be specified as it is — its length, breadth, shape, and material. And to understand a nation, we must do the same. India is idolatrous. You must help her as she is. Those who have left her can do nothing for her!" (CWSN 1: 209)

He was riding on one occasion with the Raja of Khetri, when he saw that his arm was bleeding profusely and found that the wound had been caused by a thorny branch which he had held aside for himself to pass. When the Swami expostulated, the Rajput laughed the matter aside. "Are we not always the defenders of the faith, Swamiji?" he said.

"And then", said the Swami, telling the story, "I was just going to tell him that they ought not to show such honour to the Sannyasin, when suddenly I thought that perhaps they were right after all. Who knows? Maybe I too am caught in the glare of this flashlight of your modern civilization, which is only for a moment".

" — I have become entangled", he said simply to one who protested that to his mind the wandering Sâdhu of earlier years, who had scattered his knowledge and changed his name as he went, had been greater than the abbot of Belur, burdened with much work and many cares. "I have become entangled." (CWSN 1: 43)

Swami said today that he is beginning to see the needs of humanity in quite a different light — that he is already sure of the principle that is to help, but is spending hours every day in trying to solve the methods. That what he had known hitherto is for men living in a cave — alone, undisturbed — but now he will give "humanity something that will make for strength in the stress of daily life". (LSN II: 1264)

Monday, May 28, 2012

"In my first speech in this country, in Chicago, I addressed that audience as 'Sisters and Brothers of America', and you know that they all rose to their feet. You may wonder what made them do this, you may wonder if I had some strange power. Let me tell you that I did have a power and this is it — never once in my life did I allow myself to have even one sexual thought. I trained my mind, my thinking, and the powers that man usually uses along that line I put into a higher channel, and it developed a force so strong that nothing could resist it." (ND 6: 155)

"Why should I desire to be 'good'? All this is His handiwork [waving his hand to indicate the trees and the countryside]. Shall I apologize for His handiwork? If you want to reform John Doe, go and live with him; don't try to reform him. If you have any of the Divine Fire, he will catch it." (ND 5: 257)

- Swami Vivekananda (Mrs. Alice Hansbrough's reminiscences of a picnic in Pasadena, California when a Christian Science woman suggested to Swami Vivekananda that one should teach people to be good)

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Go on bravely — never mind about designs and other details at present — "With the horse will come the reins". Work unto death — I am with you, and when I am gone, MY SPIRIT WILL WORK WITH YOU. This life comes and goes — wealth, fame, enjoyments are only of a few days. It is better, far... better to die on the field of duty, preaching the truth, than to DIE LIKE A WORLDY WORM. ADVANCE!

Sunday, May 20, 2012

" Do you think these sannyasi children of Sri Ramakrishna are born to simply to sit under trees lighting dhuni-fires? Whenever any of them will take up some work, people will be astonished to see their energy. Learn from them how to work "

- Swami Vivekananda The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 5/Sayings and Utterances

Friday, May 18, 2012

Nature is conquered by man every day. As a race, man is manifesting his power. Try in imagination to put a limit to this power in man. You admit that man as a race has infinite power, has [an] infinite body. The only question is what you are. Are you the race or one [individual]? The moment you isolate yourself, everything hurts you. The moment you expand and feel for others, you gain help. The selfish man is the most miserable in the world. The happiest is the man who is not at all selfish. He has become the whole creation, the whole race and God [is] within him. . . . So in dualism — Christian, Hindu, and all religions — the code of ethics . . . . is: Do not be selfish . . . . things for others! Expand! . . . .

- Swami Vivekananda The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/The Goal

This truth is first to be listened to then to be thought about. Reason, argue it out by all manner of means. The enlightened know no more than that. Know it for certain that you are in everything. That is why you should not hurt anybody, because in hurting them you hurt yourself. . . . [Lastly,] this is to be meditated upon. Think upon it. Can you realise there will come a time when everything will crumble in the dust and you will stand alone? That moment of ecstatic joy will never leave you. You will actually find that you are without bodies. You never had bodies.

I am One, alone, through all eternity. Whom shall I fear? It is all my Self. This is continuously to be meditated upon. Through that comes realisation. It is through realisation that you become a [blessing] to others. . . .
- Swami Vivekananda The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/The Goal

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Man, therefore, according to the Vedanta philosophy, is the greatest being that is in the universe, and this world of work the best place in it, because only herein is the greatest and the best chance for him to become perfect. Angels or gods, whatever you may call them, have all to become men, if they want to become perfect. This is the great centre, the wonderful poise, and the wonderful opportunity — this human life.

- Swami Vivekananda The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Jnana-Yoga/The Real and the Apparent Man

If one millionth part of the men and women who live in this world simply sit down and for a few minutes say, "You are all God, O ye men and O ye animals and living beings, you are all the manifestations of the one living Deity!" the whole world wil...l be changed in half an hour. Instead of throwing tremendous bomb-shells of hatred into every corner, instead of projecting currents of jealousy and of evil thought, in every country people will think that it is all He. He is all that you see and feel. How can you see evil until there is evil in you? How can you see the thief, unless he is there, sitting in the heart of your heart? How can you see the murderer until you are yourself the murderer? Be good, and evil will vanish for you. The whole universe will thus be changed. This is the greatest gain to society. This is the great gain to the human organism.

- Swami Vivekananda The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Jnana-Yoga/The Real and the Apparent Man

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

" We must get beyond emotionalism if we want the power to renounce. Emotion belongs to the animals. They are creatures of emotion entirely "

" He is free, he is great, who turns his back upon the world, who has renounced everything, who has controlled his passion, and who thirsts for peace. One may gain political and social independence, but if one is a slave to his passions and desires, one cannot feel the pure joy of real freedom "

- Swami Vivekananda The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 5/Sayings and Utterances

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

It is very easy to point out the defects of institutions, all being more or less imperfect, but he is the real benefactor of humanity who helps the individual to overcome his imperfections under whatever institutions he may live. The individuals being raised, the nation and its institutions are bound to rise. Bad customs and laws are ignored by t...he virtuous, and unwritten but mightier laws of love, sympathy, and integrity take their place. Happy is the nation which can rise to the necessity of but few law books, and needs no longer to bother its head about this or that institution. Good men rise beyond all laws, and will help their fellows to rise under whatever conditions they live.

The salvation of India, therefore, depends on the strength of the individual, and the realisation by each man of the divinity within.

- Swami Vivekananda The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 5/Sayings and Utterances

Sunday, May 13, 2012

The body is our enemy, and yet is our friend. Which of you can bear the sight of misery? And which of you cannot do so when you see it only as a painting? Because it is unreal, we do not identify ourselves with it, eve know it is only a painting; it cannot bless us, it cannot hurt us. The most terrible misery painted upon a price of canv...as, we may even enjoy; we praise the technique of the artist, we wonder at his marvellous genius, even though the scene he paints is most horrible. That is the secret; that non-attachment. Be the Witness.

- Swami Vivekananda The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 5/Notes from Lectures and Discourses/Sadhanas or Preparations for Higher Life

Once when he ( Swami Vivekananda ) saw them going to worship as he was in the middle of the court under a tree, he said to them:

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" Where shall you go to seek Brahman ? ...He is immanent in all beings. HERE, HERE is the visible Brahman!...Shame to other things. Here is the Brahman before you, as tangible as a fruit in one's hand. Can't you see? Here, here is the Brahman!...

And so forceful was his utterance that each received a kind of shock and remained for nearly a quarter of an hour glued to the spot as if petrified. Vivekananda at last had to say to them, " Now go to worship! "
- Swami Vivekananda
{The life of Vivekananda and the universal gospel by Romain Rolland}

As he ( Swami Vivekananda ) lay dying, his great pride realized the vanity of pride, and discovered that true greatness lay in little things: " The humble, heroic life. "

" As I grow older, " he had said to Nivedita, " I find that I look more and more for greatness in LITTLE things...And any one will be great in a great position. Even the coward will grow brave in the glare of the footlights. The world looks on! More and more the true greatness seems to me that of the worm doing its duty silently, steadily from moment to moment and hour to hour. "

- Swami Vivekananda {The life of Vivekananda and the universal gospel by Romain Rolland}

No breathing, no physical training of Yoga, nothing is of any use until you reach to the idea, "I am the Witness." Say, when the tyrant hand is on your neck, "I am the Witness! I am the Witness!" Say, "I am the Spirit! Nothing external can touch me." When evil thoughts arise, repeat that, give that sledge-hammer blow on their heads, "I am the Spirit! I am the Witness, the Ever-Blessed! I have no reason to do, no reason to suffer, I have finished with everything, I am the Witness. I am in my picture gallery — this universe is my museum, I am looking at these successive paintings. They are all beautiful. Whether good or evil. I see the marvellous skill, but it is all one. Infinite flames of the Great Painter!" Really speaking, there is naught — neither volition, nor desire. He is all. He — She — the Mother, is playing, and we are like dolls, Her helpers in this play. Here, She puts one now in the garb of a beggar, another moment in the garb of a king, the next moment in the garb of a saint, and again in the garb of a devil. We are putting on different garbs to help the Mother Spirit in Her play.

- Swami Vivekananda
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 5/Notes from Lectures and Discourses/Sadhanas or Preparations for Higher Life

Friday, May 11, 2012

Give up hope, says the Vedanta. Why should you hope? You have everything, nay, you are everything. What are you hoping for? If a king goes mad, and runs about trying to find the king of his country, he will never find him, because he is the king himself. He may go through every village and city in his own country, seeking in every house, weeping and wailing, but he will never find him, because he is the king himself. It is better that we know we are God and give up this fool's search after Him; and knowing that we are God we become happy and contented. Give up all these mad pursuits, and then play your part in the universe, as an actor on the stage.

- Swami Vivekananda The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part II

We the infinite have limited ourselves, as it were, into small parts. The Vedanta says that Infinity is our true nature; it will never vanish, it will abide for ever. But we are limiting ourselves by our Karma, which like a chain round our necks has dragged us into this limitation. Break that chain and be free. Trample law under your feet. There is no law in human nature, there is no destiny, no fate. How can there be law in infinity? Freedom is its watchword. Freedom is its nature, its birthright. Be free, and then have any number of personalities you like.

- Swami Vivekananda The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Practical Vedanta: Part II

It is on the way to truth; therefore let everybody work out his own vision of this universe, according to his own ideas. Injure none, deny the position of none; take man where he stands and, if you can, lend him a helping hand and put him on a higher platform, but do not injure and do not destroy. All will come to truth in the long run. "When all the desires of the heart will be vanquished, then this very mortal will become immortal" — then the very man will become God.

" No force can be created; it can only be directed. Therefore, we must learn to control the grand powers that are already in our hands, and by will power make them spiritual, instead of merely animal. Thus it is clearly seen that chastity is the cornerstone of all morality and of all religion " (C.W. 8.46)

" Chastity is the life of a nation. Do you not find in history that the first death-sign of a nation has been unchastity? When that has entered, the end of the race is in sight "

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Our mistakes have places here. Go on! Do not look back if you think you have done something that is not right. Now, do you believe you could be what you are today, had you not made those mistakes before? Bless your mistakes, then. They have been angels unawares. Blessed be torture! Blessed be happiness Do not care what be your lot. Hold on to the ideal. March on! Do not look back upon little mistakes and things. In this battlefield of ours, the dust of mistakes must be raised. Those who are so thin-skinned that they cannot bear the dust, let them get out of the ranks.

(Notes from a lecture Sadhanas or preparations for higher life) - Swami Vivekananda

Fortune is like a flirt; she cares not for him who wants her, but she is at the feet of him who does not care for her. Money comes and showers itself upon one who does not care for it; so does fame come in abundance until it is a trouble and a burden. They always come to the Master. The slave never gets anything. The Master is he who can live in spite of them, whose life does not depend upon the little, foolish things of the world.
- Swami Vivekananda (Notes from a lecture Sadhanas or preparations for higher life)

It is good and very grand to conquer external nature, but grander still to conquer the internal nature of man. It is grand and good to know the laws that govern the stars and planets; it is infinitely grander and better to know the laws that govern the passions, the feelings, the will, of mankind. This conquering of the inner man, understanding the secrets of the subtle workings that are within the human mind, and knowing its wonderful secrets, belong entirely to religion.

This hideous world is Maya. Renounce and be happy. Give up the idea of sex and possessions. There is no other bond. Marriage and sex and money are the only living devils. All earthly love proceeds from the body. No sex, no possessions; as these fall off, the eyes open to spiritual vision. The soul regains its own infinite power.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Vivekananda liked to preach with " Thunder " the great Truth - " Thou art that". And he did only that. That is the final truth. Infinite strength, infinite purity, infinite knowledge, and infinite joy - all are within man himself. For the last time he went to see his children in the West gave this final message to them in California:

" All weakness, all bondage is in imagination. Speak one word to it and it must vanish. Do not weaken! There is no other way out. Stand up and be strong! No fear. ....Don't die of fright. Die fighting. Do not go down till you are knocked down. "

The disciples who saw the prophet in those moments wrote:

Then with his right arm extended, he thundered, " Die game! Die game! Die game!

Himself a hero worshipper, he saluted Napolean from his ship while it was passing near Corsica, the birth place of the great hero. One who saw him in France remembered,

"I see him now leaning over and looking down upon Napoleon's tomb, and saying, ' A great man, a great force! Shiva! Shiva!""Can anyone, my dear friend, have faith or resignation in the Lord unless he himself is a HERO?"

" Whoever will be ready to serve him - no, not Him, but His children - the poor, and the downtrodden, the sinful and the afflicted, down to the very worn....Through their tongue the Goddess of Learning Herself will speak and the Divine Mother, the embodiment of all power, will enthrone Herself in their hearts."

" Appreciation, or no appreciation, I am born to organize these young men. Hundreds more in every city are ready to join me; and I want to send them surging like irresistible waves over India bringing comfort, morality, religious education to the doors of the meanest and the most downtrodden and this I will do or die "

" It won't do now simply to sit in meditation on mountain tops without realizing in the least it's usefulness. Now is wanted as said in the GITA by the Lord - intense Karma Yoga with unbounded courage and indomitable strength in the heart. Then only will the people of the country be roused.."

Friday, May 4, 2012

" I do not know whether I shall succeed or not, but it is a great thing to hold on to a grand ideal and give one's whole life to it. Otherwise what is the value of this little, vegetating, low life of man ? "

" Fly from evil and terror and misery, and they will follow you. Face them, and they will flee.

If we are ever to gain freedom, it must be by conquering nature, never by running away. Cowards never win victories. We have to fight fear and troubles and ignorance if we expect them to flee before us. ... That is the lesson for all life - face the terrible, face it boldly "

" If a man or woman were allowed the freedom to take up any woman or man as wife or husband, if individual pleasure, satisfaction of animal instincts, were to be allowed to run loose in society, the result must be evil, evil children, wicked and demonical. A man in every country is, on the one hand producing these brutal children, and on other hand multiplying the police force to keep these brutes down. The question is not how to destroy evil that way, but how to prevent the very birth of evil "

Behind the boasted boasted western slogan of " Progress of Civilisation " Vivekananda foresaw one hundred years earlier, a mere " successful accomplishment of the desired object by making the end justify the means ". Only money making or mere utilitarian goals cannot be the goal of any society.

Vivekananda said:

" Utilitarian Standards cannot explain the ethical relations of men. Why should we do well ? Doing good is a secondary consideration. We must have an ideal. Ethics itself is not the end. If the end is not there, why should we be ethical ? " " The present day civilisation of the West is multiplying day by day only the want and distresses of men."

" If the power to satisfy our desires is increased in arithmetical progression, the power of desire is increased in geometrical progression. "

In America he said:

You may have build two thousand hospitals, built fifty thousand roads, yet what of that, if you have not realized that you are the spirit ? You die a dog's death, with the same feelings that the dog does. The dog howls and weeps because he knows that he is only matter and he is going to be dissolved. "

Spiritual culture brings the feeling of divinity within, and inspires spontaneous unselfishness, which brings to the leader undreamt- of success, highest bliss, and fulfilment through selfless service.

Vivekananda explains: " To work without motive, to work unattached brings the highest bliss and freedom." " The man becomes a world mover in whom the little self is dead and God stands in its place."

" The perfectly unselfish man is the most successful".

" Unselfishiness is more paying, only people do not have the patience to practise it. Unselfishness is more paying from the point of view of health also. "